<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>foregone conclusion by fencesit</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782324">foregone conclusion</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fencesit/pseuds/fencesit'>fencesit</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fishing for Trout [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Drabble Series, M/M, POV Uchiha Itachi, Peggy Sue, Time Travel Fix-It</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:15:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>700</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782324</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fencesit/pseuds/fencesit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Eventually, Kisame looks at him. "If I went back, I'd probably just end up here again," he says. "But without you."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hoshigaki Kisame/Uchiha Itachi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fishing for Trout [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713781</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>189</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>What Fen Do (Instead of Going Outside), When Death Loves Flamingos</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>foregone conclusion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masu_Trout/gifts">Masu_Trout</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
Only one of them can go back.
</p><p>
Kisame has looked away from Itachi, pondering the seal at their feet, and clearly doesn't want to hear Itachi's opinion.
</p><p>
Well. This isn't a combat situation, where Kisame would be content to follow Itachi's orders. This is a personal decision. Itachi has never been very good at those. Kisame is probably right to keep his own council.
</p><p>
The silence stretches on. Itachi doesn't mind. He and Kisame have often sat in silence.
</p><p>
Eventually, Kisame looks at him. "If I went back, I'd probably just end up here again," he says. "But without you."
</p>
<hr/><p>
Itachi cannot go very far back, but even the short jump is worth it: Shisui has both eyes. Sasuke smiles at him. His clan fills the streets, agitated, on the cusp of rebellion, and not dead. Itachi can work with this. 
</p><p>
Itachi will try something different. 
</p><p>
Itachi will do better. 
</p><p>
Itachi....will preemptively assassinate Danzō in broad daylight. He's really not good at interpersonal conflict resolution.
</p><p>
It's almost familiar: flee the village, try not to kill anyone who doesn't have it coming, resign self to a long camping trip. The only thing missing is a partner Itachi can rely on.
</p>
<hr/><p>
Kisame spends the first half an hour trying to kill him, looking like he's having the time of his life. It's nostalgic, but Itachi is more fond of the times when they <em>weren't</em> trying to kill each other. He ends the fight.
</p><p>
On the ground, Itachi's blade to his throat, Kisame says, "Do it, then." Having enjoyed a good fight beforehand, Kisame doesn't even look angry about his seemingly imminent death.
</p><p>
Instead, Itachi withdraws his blade. "We'll work together," Itachi says.
</p><p>
"Uh," says Kisame. 
</p><p>
"We have a mission," Itachi tells him. He turns and walks away, knowing Kisame will follow.
</p>
<hr/><p>
They make money. A lot of money. Itachi has gotten a lot better at this since the last time he was a teenaged missing nin. Kisame seems to find it amusing, although he hides it well. Only years of working alongside Kisame and eventually learning to read his mood without the benefit of eyesight allows Itachi to notice it.
</p><p>
Itachi doesn't mind being a source of amusement. It only bothers him because Kisame feels the need to hide it.
</p><p>
Of course they won't go back to how things were. Of course. He and Kisame are strangers. It will take time.
</p>
<hr/><p>
They fight some Leaf nin. Kisame wants to kill them, because of course. 
</p><p>
Itachi promised a different version of Kisame that he would do things better this time. That now-gone Kisame probably hadn't just meant he should get rich young, so Itachi intervenes. He has to stop this version of Kisame from even seriously injuring them.
</p><p>
Kisame is still afraid, so it works. "Fine," he says. "You're buying dinner,"
</p><p>
"Uchiha Itachi," hisses one of the still-conscious Leaf ninja, full of hate. "You <em>traitor</em>."
</p><p>
Konoha ninja are much less afraid if him this time; they've mostly settled on loathing. Progress, maybe?
</p>
<hr/><p>
Kisame considers the offer, but Itachi walks away — the Akatsuki is the one place he won't follow Kisame, because Itachi's terrible plans will go much smoother if Itachi doesn't have to answer to anyone.
</p><p>
Also, if Itachi doesn't join then the group will probably be stuck with Orochimaru for however long it takes for Orochimaru to betray them. This strikes Itachi as no less than what the Akatsuki deserves.
</p><p>
"I guess we do just fine on our own," Kisame says philosophically when he catches up to Itachi. Then they fight for their lives; the Akatsuki don't like being told no.
</p>
<hr/><p>
Itachi did at least one thing right, because Sasuke doesn't abandon the village. He does come looking, though, and finds Itachi and Kisame holed up in a one-bed hotel room. They're thankfully both wearing pants, at least.
</p><p>
"Come home," Sasuke demands. As if commanding it will make it so.
</p><p>
Kisame has begun to pack their things.
</p><p>
Sasuke adds, "Tsunade will pardon you."
</p><p>
Kisame stops packing their things.
</p><p>
Itachi looks at him. At their jumble of things. He considers how much easier things might be with medical attention. "I have conditions," he warns. He won't go anywhere without Kisame ever again.
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>